Amul Twitter handle briefly blocked, Twitter cites security processes; restores account

NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: The Twitter account of Amul was briefly blocked, sparking public outrage, but the social networking and microblogging firm on Saturday said the account was restricted after being caught in the platform’s security processes.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) - which makes Amul brand of food products - found its Twitter account blocked on June 4 evening. The account was restored on June 5.

Some sought to link the blockage to Amul advertising for use of its Make in India product and boycott Chinese products. Amul had posted ‘Exit the Dragon’ tweet on June 3 afternoon and its account went down on June 4 evening.

On accessing the account, a message saying “This account is temporarily restricted. You’re seeing this warning because there has been some unusual activity from this account. Do you still want to view it?” was displayed. Twitter did not link the account suspension to the advertisement.

“Safety and security of the accounts is a key priority for us and to ensure an account has not been compromised sometimes we require the account owner to complete a simple RECAPTCHA process. These challenges are simple for authentic account owners to solve, but difficult (or costly) for spammy or malicious account owners to complete,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Once the account clears this security step, the account regains full access, the statement added. “To protect the accounts, we routinely require them to clear this security key for login verification,” the spokesperson said.

Amul Managing Director R S Sodhi said the company’s Twitter account was blocked on the night of June 4, and restored on June 5 morning when the issue was taken up with Twitter.

“Our Twitter account was blocked on the night of June 4 and restored on June 5 morning when we again took up the process of reactivation with Twitter. We have asked Twitter why it blocked our account. We are waiting for the reply,” he said.

Twitter was abuzz with several users expressing shock, while many questioned its move to restrict the account. Twitteratis linked the restriction of Amul’s account with the brand’s campaign, supporting boycott of Chinese products. The brand figured among trending topics in India even on Saturday with over 1 1,500 tweets.